Second edition of De Fer's rare map of the region extending from Hong Kong and Macao in the east to the Indus River and Maldives in the west, bearing the imprint of his son-in-law and successor, Guillaume Danet.
This fascinating map includes exceptional detail in the map and excellent survey of the coordinates of 20 major cities, including Malacca, Canton, Macao, Pekin and Siam. Sincapour is named, with a fine detailed treatment of the Straits. Within the map, there are several interesting annotations, including a note showing the location of Sancham (Sancian), where St. Francis Xavier died in December 1552.
First issued in 1709, this is one of the earliest maps to bear the imprint of Nicolas De Fer's son-in-law, Guillaume Danet, following De Fer's death in 1720, in Danet's Atlas ou Receuil de Cartes Geographiques. Danet also re-issued the map in 1728. All editions are very rare on the market.
Nicholas de Fer (1646-1720) was the son of a map seller, Antoine de Fer, and grew to be one of the most well-known mapmakers in France in the seventeenth century. He was apprenticed at twelve years old to Louis Spirinx, an engraver. When his father died in 1673, Nicholas helped his mother run the business until 1687, when he became the sole proprietor.
His earliest known work is a map of the Canal of Languedoc in 1669, while some of his earliest engravings are in the revised edition of Methode pour Apprendre Facilement la Geographie (1685). In 1697, he published his first world atlas. Perhaps his most famous map is his wall map of America, published in 1698, with its celebrated beaver scene (engraved by Hendrick van Loon, designed by Nicolas Guerard). After his death in 1720, the business passed to his sons-in-law, Guillaume Danet and Jacques-Francois Benard.